Taipei, June 8 (CNA) Taiwan remained the fourth-largest hub for financial transactions in the Chinese currency in April, though it could be surpassed by New York in the future, according to an index released by British banking group Standard Chartered Bank. The Standard Chartered Renminbi Globalization Index reached 1,807 in April, up 4.1 percent from March and an increase of 91.8 percent from one year earlier, the bank said in a June 6 report. Yet Hong Kong remained the largest offshore renminbi market, accounting for 65.7 percent of the index, followed by London's 14.5 percent, Singapore's 9.2 percent, Taipei's 5.4 percent and New York's 5.2 percent. Also, four of the five renminbi offshore centers covered in the index -- Hong Kong, Singapore, London and Taipei -- recorded a month-on-month drop in cross-border renminbi payments, according to Standard Chartered. New York, the new offshore renminbi hub which Standard Chartered added to its index in March, recorded a 13 percent month-on-month increase in cross-border renminbi payments, signifying it has plenty of catch-up potential, the bank noted. Standard Chartered launched its renminbi index in November 2012 to measure renminbi business growth in four key areas: deposits, capital-raising tools, international commerce and foreign exchange. Tony Phoo, a Taipei-based economist at Standard Chartered, said he expects the overall size of renminbi deposits in Taiwan to rise further to between 300 billion and 350 billion Chinese yuan in 2014, nearly twice the 182.6 billion recorded in 2013.

"We believe the anticipation of long-term Chinese yuan appreciation is one of the main drivers of this growth," Phoo said in the report. (By Jeffrey Wu)